Police responded to multiple shootings Saturday evening at the home of Dorothy Wight, 905 S. Topeka, Burlingame. The incident resulted in the death of three visiting relatives. Investigation at the scene continued this week.

BURLINGAME—A former Columbia, Mo., city official is being held in the Osage County Jail on $10 million cash bond after being charged with killing his estranged wife and two teenage daughters in Burlingame.

James Kraig Kahler, 46, of Columbia, was arrested Sunday morning following an almost 12-hour manhunt in the area of Auburn Road on both sides of the Osage and Shawnee county line.

The Osage County Sheriff’s Office began the search after responding to a call at 6:11 p.m. Saturday at 905 S. Topeka Ave. in Burlingame, where four people were found shot. The sheriff’s office reported that one person was found dead at the scene, while three others were transported to Stormont-Vail in Topeka. Two of the victims died at the hospital and the third was in critical condition.

Sunday, a press release from the Kansas Attorney General’s Office said the victims who died were Karen Kahler, 44, and her daughters, Emily, 18, and Lauren, 16. Dorothy Wight, 89, of Burlingame, remained in critical condition as of Tuesday. Wight is Karen Kahler’s grandmother, said Ashley Anstaett, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.

“It was my understanding they were visiting for the holiday,” Anstaett said Monday. She confirmed the Kahler’s son, Sean, 10, was also at Wight’s home at the time of the shootings.

“Sean was in the house and escaped safely,” Anstaett said.

Anstaett said a 911 call about a suspicious vehicle first came in, with a neighbor providing a vehicle license tag number. The suspicious vehicle call was updated after another call about the shooting was received.

“The follow up call came from a neighbor when the son ran to the house,” Anstaett said.

Law enforcement from across the area converged on an area along Auburn Road in southern Shawnee County, where a vehicle the suspect was driving was located at a farmstead. Roadblocks were set up on Auburn Road at 109th Street and 103rd Street, detouring traffic from the area.

Contacted Monday, Jim Barnes, whose residence is in southern Shawnee County, said at approximately 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 28, he noticed a red vehicle slowing in front of his residence, turning into the driveway of a neighbor across Auburn Road.

He said his neighbors had been away, but the car headed down the driveway and parked where the neighbors often parked.

“I never thought anything about it,” Barnes said. “A little later, I noticed that another car turned into the driveway and shut off its lights.”

Throughout the night, the Osage County Sheriff’s Office issued several press releases about the shooting, requesting the public’s assistance in locating Kahler.

“Kahler should be considered armed and dangerous,” the release said. “If located, contact 911 immediately.”

Monday, Osage County Sheriff Laurie Dunn referred all questions about the incident and search to the attorney general’s office.

Anstaett said Shawnee County residents in the area where the vehicle was found were notified of the search by that county’s automatic calling system.

In Osage County, sheriff’s deputies notified some residents by going to their homes, Anstaett said.

Shirley Barnes said about 30 minutes after her husband saw the car pull into the neighbor’s driveway, a call came from the Shawnee County Sheriff’s office and the caller asked to confirm the couple’s address.

“A guy that’s armed and dangerous is out of the vehicle across from where you live. Lock your doors and stay inside,” the caller said, according to Shirley Barnes.

Barnes said the caller also warned that a roadblock had been set up on 103rd Street and Auburn Road.

Several residents on the Osage County side of the county line complained Monday that they were not notified of the reasons for the search activity in their area.

Less than an hour after the first call, Jim Barnes said another call was received from the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, advising that a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team would be arriving shortly to search Barnes’ outbuildings. Soon after, five SWAT team officers and an armored vehicle arrived to conduct the search.

The manhunt continued through the night with assistance from numerous law enforcement agencies, a law enforcement helicopter, and dogs.

At approximately 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Kahler was located in a ditch beside Auburn Road, between 109th Street and 117th Street. Anstaett declined to comment on Kahler’s capture, saying only he was caught without incident.

“The first person to spot him was an off-duty Shawnee County deputy, who called 911,” Anstaett said.

Shawnee County deputies then arrived and arrested Kahler at gunpoint, according to Auburn Road resident Ray Winrick, who witnessed the arrest.

“We were up early Sunday morning, for the kids were planning to leave,” Winrick said Monday. “I noticed an object near our property, down in the road ditch. It looked like a big dog curled up. In a few moments, a deputy came by, with gun drawn. He circled what I thought was a dog. Quickly, several more deputies arrived. A man stood up. It looked like he was being searched. The deputies led him to a vehicle.”

Later Sunday, Winrick approached a deputy who appeared to be searching for something in the ditch. Winrick said the deputy told him footprints had been found under the bridge approximately one-fourth mile north of Winrick’s residence, “along with an indication that someone had sat there.”

Anstaett declined to comment on the suspected murder weapon, and would not say whether Kahler was armed when found and whether a weapon had been recovered.

Monday, several Auburn Road residents said deputies had notified them of a continued search for weapons. Monday and Tuesday, law enforcement officers could be seen walking and searching in the area.

Kahler was booked into the Osage County Jail Sunday, where he remains on $10 million cash bond. He was formally charged in Osage County District Court Monday with capital murder for the killings of his wife and daughters. See related story, Page 1.

Kahler had recently resigned from his position as director of Columbia Water and Light. In a press release issued in September, Columbia City Manager Bill Watkins said he had asked for Kahler’s resignation due to “some difficult family issues” that had “affected his focus on the department.”

Fourth shooting victim dies

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday morning that Dorothy Wight, one of the victims of the Saturday shooting at Burlingame, died at 4:13 p.m. Tuesday. The Attorney General’s Office is quoted in other media as saying the charges against James Kraig Kahler would be amended to charge